Picture-hanger



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID A. FERRIS, OF SPENCERQNEW YORK.

PICTURE-HANGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 506,682, dated October 17, 1893.

Application led January 31, 1893. Serial No. 460,278. (No model.)

employed in corners or angles of rooms; to

provide for aretention of such support regardless of the presence of studding at the point of insertion of the support; to provide a picture-rod adapted to coact with the snpport and to be rigidly secured in position and prevented from turning, and to so construct said rod that if it should become Warped or bent by the weight carried thereby it may be Y reversed and by a reverse action of the weight thereon regain its alignment; and finally to produce a picture-support adapted to be employed in connection with the peculiarly supported rod and to incline the pictures at .proper angle from the wall.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in certain features of'constructionhereinafter specified and particularly pointed out in theclaim.

Referring to the draWings:-Figure l is an elevation of a portion of a wall, the same being provided with my improved picture and picture-rod support. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse sectional view thereon Fig. 3 is a similar View, the rod being hollowand a different form of picture-support being carried thereby. Fig. et is a perspective in detail of the preferred form of hook.

Like numerals of reference indicate like parts in all the figures of the drawings.

In practicing my invention I prefer to secure to the wall near the ceiling the molding l, which molding may be of any Width and have its front face carved or ornamented in any suitable manner and design. To this molding at intervals by means of screws 2 there is secured a series of hooks 3. The preferred form of hook has its shank provided at its upper end with a coil or eye 4, through which the screws are passed and below the same said body-portion of the hook is outwardly and upwardly bent to form the vertical stern 5, which stem 5 terminates at a poin about opposite the eye.

It often happens that the hook will be located at a point in the Wall where no studding is located and hence the screw will contact merely with a lath. It is Well known by those persons conversant with hanging pictures and the like that it is next to impossible to drive a nail or insert a screw in a Wall where there is merelyalath and plaster back of it, the result uniformly being that thelath is destroyed and the plaster knocked down. It is in such instance that the molding l performs a special function, in that it provides a hard external surface against which the hook and screw-head may bind and at its inner end of the screw engaging the lath serves to draw the lath toward the hook so that the intermediate portion of the Wall, that is to say,the portion lyingbetween thelath and the molding is clamped,and hence the hook is secured in position and not liable to pullout. A hook ot' the construction described also performs a novel function when employed inthe angles of rooms, where if the hook were continued to form the screw as will hereinafter appear, it would be impossible to insert the same by reason of the fact that there is not sufficient room or space in which to rotate said hook, and hence I iind it convenientand preferable in most cases to employ that form of hook having an eye andv a screw passed through the eye.

6 designates an ordinary picture-supporting rod, the same being shown in Figs. 1 and 2 as solid, as when constructed of Wood, and in Fig. 3 as of metal, which though more expensive, yet is the modern way of constructing these rods. The rod is provided at intervals corresponding with the hook with diametrioally-disposed holes or perforations 7, which, as shown, extend entirely through the rod, and these holes or perforations take over the stem portions 5 of the series of hooks whereby the rod is supported securely in position and cannot rotate by reason of any weight that may be brought to bear thereon.

One of the objections to wooden rods is that IOO the weight of the pictures hanging thereon together with the heat of the room oftentimes causes the rod to sag or warp at points between the hooks, so that in time they become unsightly and have to be taken down and replaced by new ones. In order to avoid this objection I provide the rods with the perforations or holes described, and by such an arrangement should the rods become warped or sagI am enabled to remove the rods, give the same a half-rotation and remonnt them upon the stems of the hooks, thus bringing the convexed portions of the rods uppermost and the weight of the pictures will soon cause said rods to resume their alignment.

If desired, and as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the shanks of the hooks may be bent at an angle to the body-portions and thus form a threaded or screw-point 8.

In Fig. 3 I have illustrated a hollow or metal rod 9. It will be seen that in this instance the perforations are also entirely through the rod,but they are not for the same purpose so much as in the previous instance, although metal rods do sometimes sag and would require to be reversed, but if the stems 5 of the hooks did not extend entirely through the rod 9, the same being hollow would be unstable and capable of a partial rotation. However, by extending the stems entirely through the rods 9 it will be seen that they are held as securely as if the rods lwere solid.

In Figs. 2 and 3 I have illustrated a convenient and cheap picture-supporting hook or hanger especially designed for use in connection with these peculiarly supported rods.

In Fig. 2, which is my preferred form of hanger I construct the same of wire and bend the upper end thereof to form a hook 10, which conforms in curvature to that of the rod. From the rod the support depends some distance and is then coiled to form an eye 11, beyond which it is extended atan obtuse angle to its depending portion 12, as shown at 13,

and finally terminates in a spur 14. When applied to the back of a picture the spur is driven into the frame and ascrew 15 inserted through the eye 11 and into the frame.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a slightly modified form of hanger the same consisting merely of ahook-portion 16 adapted to snugly fit the rod, a straight shank 17, and a support 18,

formed at the lower extremity of the straight shank.

From the foregoing description in connection with the drawings it will be seen that I have provided a very cheap and simply constructed rod-support, the same designed to be conveniently used in connection with either a hollow or solid rod and capable of supporting the rod in a secure manner against twisting and in such manner as to permit of it being readily lifted from the stems of the hooks that support the same, rotated partially, and replaced, whereby the sagging or warping may be disposed of and the rod regain its proper alignment. Furthermore, thatI have produced a cheap and simple picture-hanger adapted to be utilized in connection with a rod supported in the manner described, in that as it connects simply by its hook-portion with the rod, if said rod were not secured rigidly to the hooks, there would be a tendency to rotate the same and hence more orless displace itI from its position upon the hooks. This I avoid, however, by securing the rod in the manner shown.

It will be understood that any form or desired ornamentation may be given the rod, I having herein shown merely the simple cylindrical rod sometimes used. In many cases, however, it is desired to use rods whose eX- posed surface is ornamented, and hence it is necessary to prevent the rod from rotating and becoming displaced, whereby such ornamented surface would be hidden from View.

Having described my invention, what I claim isv The combination with a wall, of a rod and a rod support, and a picture-support having its upper end curved to form ahook agreeing with the curvature ofthe rod below the same having a straight vertical shank coiled to form an eye, and beyond the eye disposed obliquely to the shank and terminating in a spur, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

D. A. FERRIS.

Witnesses:

E. G. SIGGERS, J. H. SIGGERs. 

